


Setting the Record Straight

by Rymdunge



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, Bit cracky, Clubbing, M/M, gwen likes girls, not as straight as previously thought, sliiightly dubious consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 15:32:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10415289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rymdunge/pseuds/Rymdunge
Summary: Arthur accompanies Gwen on her first visit to a LGBT establishment for emotional support, and ends up learning something new about himself.





	

Arthur liked to think he was a pretty good Straight Friend (TM), and just a good friend in general. Which was why he felt only the slightest hint of resentment when is ex-girlfriend asked him if he’d come with her to her first visit to a gay bar. He knew it had nothing to do with him that Gwen had realised that she might prefer girls, even if the realisation hit while she was in a relationship with Arthur. Being told that the person you loved found you lacking always hurt, even when it was something that had entirely to do with the other person’s preferences, rather than some personal flaw.

He had told himself as much, over and over, until he managed to get enough past the break-up to allow for him and Gwen to return to a tentative friendship. And so, he found himself leaning against a circular little table, nursing a drink while Gwen was dancing a few steps away. She’d been moving between a few different woman during the evening, always staying within sight of Arthur, just in case. She wasn’t really out to pull tonight, she’d said. ‘Just wanted to see how it felt.’ She did look like she was enjoying herself. The woman she was dancing with, a bit shorter than her, with red hair pulled into a stylishly messy bun, leaned close to whisper something in Gwen’s ear. Gwen leaned back, her eyes scrunched up in a full-faced laugh.

“Hey,” said a voice at Arthur’s side. Arthur _did not_ jump, whatever anyone might say.

He turned to see a tall, slim man leaning close to him, a distinctly flirty grin on his face. Arthur had been prepared for the possibility of something like this happening – he was in a LGBT place after all. He didn’t see any reason to kill the guy’s buzz with the whole ‘sorry, dude I’m straight’ spiel. It was pretty flattering, actually. The guy was pretty good-looking, in a sort of artsy fashion-shoot sort of way – pale skin with a dusting of freckles, high cheekbones, plush, pink lips, and dark, soft-looking hair. The only thing that didn’t quite fit the model-look was the rather large, sticky-out ears, but they were pretty cute, for a guy.

“Hey,” Arthur said with a smile. “Doing alright?”

“I’m fine. Just thought you looked a bit lonely, standing over here all by yourself.”

“And you thought, what’s a pretty thing like me doing all by myself?”

The guy laughed – and it was a pretty nice laugh. His eyes crinkled delicately. “Humble, aren’t you?”

Arthur shrugged, noting how the guy’s eyes flickered to his shoulders. Arthur was wearing a pretty snug t-shirt, and it was obviously appreciated. “I’m pretty amazing like that.” He glanced over to the dance floor to make sure Gwen was doing alright. She was still dancing with the redhead.

“Waiting for someone?” the guy said, sounding bit unsure now.

“Just keeping an eye on my friend. It’s her first time in a place like this.”

The guy nodded knowingly. “I know what that’s like. My friend Freya and I go here together sometimes and I swear, at least half of the times there’s some fucking straight dude thinking that a gay bar is just the perfect place to pick up chicks at.” The guy moved his hands in a small arch, in a ‘imagine this’ sort of way. His voice was sharp with sarcasm.

“Yeah, bet that gets old real fast.” Arthur took a sip of his drink. “As if there aren’t hundreds of places for straight people to hook up at.” He did feel a bit guilty for having this conversation without being completely honest, but it wasn’t like he’d lied or said something he didn’t agree with. He resolved that if the guy did ask him directly, Arthur would tell him the truth.

“So are you gonna tell me your name, or is it secret?” Arthur said, lowering his voice slightly at the last part – as much as was possible with the loud music.

They guy grinned once more. “Honestly, you’ll probably think I’m lying if I tell you my name.”

“Don’t let that stop you. Even if I don’t believe you, it’ll only add to your mysterious persona.”

The guy’s ears reddened slightly. “It’s Merlin. Like the bird.” He pointed to himself with a long, delicate finger, as though he might be talking about someone else.

“I’ll buy that. You seem like the type.”

“I hope that’s meant to be a compliment,” Merlin said, pouting.

Arthur laughed. “What’s the matter, _Mer_ lin? Are you self-conscious about your name?”

“Don’t get me started. School was a bloody nightmare.”

“Wish I could sympathize, but with a name like Arthur, I slipped under the radar. At least as far as names are concerned.”

“My envy knows no bonds,” Merlin deadpanned. “So, you wanna dance?”

Arthur hesitated for an instance. This felt a bit more like lying, somehow. He didn't want to waste Merlin’s time if he was trying to pull tonight. He glanced to the dance floor again. “Sure. Just let me text Gwen so she knows where I am for when she wants to leave.” He said ‘when’ rather than ‘if’, just to make it clear that Arthur wouldn't be going home with anyone while he had a friend to care for. If Merlin wanted to get laid, he’d know to extract himself from the interaction.

Merlin didn’t seem perturbed though. He smiled and waited for Arthur to fire away a text for Gwen (‘I’m dancing for a while. Text me if you need me.’) before pulling Arthur to the dance floor. Arthur had a moment of panic as he tried to figure out if dancing with a man would be different from dancing a woman.

They begun moving to the beat, a first without touching, but pretty quickly they were forced closer by the undulating crowd around them. Arthur instinctually placed a hand on Merlin’s lower back. Merlin grinned and mirrored the hold with both of his own hands. His waist was slim and hot as a furnace. It wasn’t unpleasant at all, Arthur found. Neither were the hands creeping down his back, towards his-

Merlin pressed his chest to Arthur’s and nuzzled at his nose. That wasn’t unpleasant either. His hands were foundling Arthur’s arse, and Arthur just had time to fit a breath between that moment and the one where Merlin kissed him.

Oh. That felt – awful nice actually. Merlin’s lips were soft and warm and tasted of something sweet and boozy, and Arthur couldn’t help but return the kiss.

Merlin was a man, he reminded himself. Maybe he was getting his wires crossed somehow and that was why his skin felt all warm and buzzy. He moved his hands tentatively over Merlin’s back; first up to his shoulder blades, which jutted out sharply through his shirt, then down to his backside, which wasn’t flat exactly, but definitely bonier than any woman’s Arthur had encountered. He was slightly taller than Arthur too, which made the angle of the kiss feel slightly strange. All in all Merlin was quite bony and distinctly unfeminine. Definitely male, Arthur’s senses affirmed. And still the hot tingle didn’t fade.

Merlin pulled away slightly, leaning his forehead against Arthur’s and breathing hard, and bloody hell if that didn’t make Arthur feel hot all over.

“Wow,” he breathed and Merlin giggled.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Arthur said and went back for another kiss.

“I love your arse,” Merlin murmured next time they parted, squeezing Arthur backside, and the way he rolled the ‘R’ sent a thrill down Arthur’s spine.

“Thanks. I’ve worked hard on it.”

Merlin burst out laughing, and now that he knew what to look for, Arthur noted that his mouth looked really lovely when shaped into a grin, and when pouting, or talking, and probably pretty much everything else.

“God, you’re a weirdo,” Merlin giggled.

“But in a likable kind of way, right?” Arthur said, perhaps with the slightest hint of insecurity.

“Yeah. Don’t let that go to your head, though. It’s already well big enough.”

They moved together for a while, holding each other close and exchanging slow, increasingly dirty kisses. Arthur managed to string a few thoughts together throughout it all. The first one was that he obviously wasn’t quite as straight as he’d once believed, which wasn’t all that big of deal, really. Well, at least not right now, when the results of the revelation were so pleasant. The second thought was that he probably ought to set the record straight (pun possibly intended; it was hard to know for sure when his brain was melting).

“Merlin,” he said, tugging his lips away and settling his hands on Merlin’s waist.

“Arthur,” Merlin purred.

“I’ve got to be honest with you.”

“Oh dear,” Merlin said, frowning. “Please don’t tell me you have a boyfriend.”

“No, no. I’m completely single.” He took a deep breath. “Merlin, I think I’m attracted to you.”

“Really,” Merlin said, widening his eyes. “I never would have guessed.” He pressed his thigh between Arthur’s legs, against the unmistakable swell of his half-hard cock.

“And I would like to see you again,” Arthur plowed on.

Merlin’s smile went sweet, his eyes softening. “I’d like that too, Arthur.”

And here it was. “I just need to tell you…” He breathed in, steeling himself. “Until tonight I was under the impression that I was straight.” He snapped his mouth shut and waited.

Merlin looked at him, slack-jawed at first, then with a suspicious furrow between his brows. “So, what are you doing here then?”

“Looking after Gwen,” Arthur said, speaking quickly. “It’s her first time out while being, uhm, out, and she was nervous and asked me to come along.”

“And you, what, got bored and decided to, what, experiment?”

“No! I didn’t want to be rude! I mean, it’s like you said, it’s pretty rich for a straight guy to go to a gay bar and not expect to get hit on, I mean, it was more about hitting on gay girls, but I think the point still stands.”

Merlin was looking at him with a sceptical scrunch of the mouth, which was pretty darn cute. His hands travelled to the back of Arthur’s neck, fingers tickling the short, sensitive hair there and making Arthur shiver. “You made out with me to avoid being rude?”

“No, it was just, sort of… I would’ve explained myself, but it felt so good I didn’t know what to do and I sort of…” He was acutely aware that he was rambling but he couldn't seem to stop the words from coming. “…Went with it?” He looked up to meet Merlin’s eyes. His expression was unreadable, but his arms had remained wrapped around Arthur’s neck, which he dared to take as a good sign. “Look, I completely understand if you’d rather not, but maybe we could go out for a coffee or something next week? I know I must sound really confused, but I promise I won’t be, you know… I don’t know, stupid about it. I won’t-“

Merlin placed his thumb over Arthur’s lips to shut him up. For a moment he just stared at Arthur, shifting lights reflecting in his blue eyes, making them shine and sparkle like magic. Arthur wanted more kisses.

Merlin sighed. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Arthur was about to protest that he was definitely not ‘cute’, but Merlin shut him up with a kiss.

“God,” Merlin murmured against his mouth. “I can already tell you’re going to be a fucking handful.”

“I’ve never done it with a man before, but I’m a really fast learner and I’m willing to try whatever-“

Merlin laughed. “Shut up, you silly thing.”

During the course of their conversation they had somehow made it to the wall at the edge of the dance floor, where the shadows were thick and unbroken. Merlin pressed Arthur against the prickly brick and abandoned all pretence of dancing. Arthur wrapped his arms tight around Merlin’s back kissed him as dirty as he could. Kissing was the same no matter who it was with. He’d show Merlin how amazing he was and how amazing he’d be in bed.

Merlin moaned and put more of his weight on Arthur. His erection pressed against Arthur’s thigh. Yeah, Arthur was amazing at this. He was going to totally ace gay-sex. If Merlin would want to have sex with him, of course. Arthur would have to prove just how great he was and how amazing he’d be at gay stuff.

“Arthur?” 

Merlin moved back and looked around. Arthur shook his head and blinked a few times before his eyes were able to focus enough to recognise Gwen. She was standing quite a bit away, looking distinctly nervous, as though she expected that she’d mistaken someone else for Arthur.

“Hi Gwen,” Arthur said, arms still wrapped around Merlin’s back. “You’re ready to leave?”

“Yes,” Gwen said in the tone of a question. She glanced at Merlin. “I can make it back on my own if you’re…” She faltered, and mild panic rose into her yes as he fumbled for the words. “If you want to stay a bit longer.”

“Ah,” Arthur looked at Merlin, who looked somewhere between amused an exasperated. “No. No. I mean…” He let go of Merlin’s waist, but stayed where he was, leaning against the wall. “I don’t want you walking home on your own.”

Gwen glanced at Merlin.

“I agree completely,” Merlin said with a smile, stepping away from Arthur and turning to shake Gwen’s hand. “I’m Merlin, by the way.”

“Oh, right, yes!” Arthur stuttered. “Gwen, this is Merlin. Merlin, this is Gwen.”

“Nice to meet you.” Gwen was smiling, but Arthur could tell she was positively vibrating with all the questions she wanted to ask.

Merlin turned back to Arthur. “So, Arthur, why don’t I give you my number, and you can call me about that coffee in the next couple of days?”

Arthur fumbled through his pockets, trying to extract his phone as quickly as possible. He handed it to Merlin and Merlin typed his number in. “Brilliant. I’ll see you around, hopefully.”

“Definitely,” Arthur said. He took a hold of Merlin’s wrist and pulled him back in for a chaste kiss. Gwen looked like she might burst with a mix of confusion and joy.

Finally, as they made their way down the street, away from the bustle of nightclubs and pubs, Gwen finally spoke. “So, what was that?”

“Well…” Arthur scratched the lobe of his ear nervously. “I believe I might not be as straight as was previously assumed?” His voice went up at the end, making his statement a question.

“And you’re sure that’s not the alcohol talking?”

“Alcohol gets rid of your inhibitions, Gwen. It does not make you act against your nature or morals. And, and I am not that drunk!”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Gwen said with a gentle sigh. “I only want you to be happy, Arthur.” And after a pause: “You’re very dear to me.”

Arthur smiled at the street ahead. “You too.” He brought his elbow out, allowing Gwen to slide her arm into his. “Did you have a good time?”

Gwen was quiet for a moment. “Yes,” she said finally. “I was a bit worried at first – or scared, I guess.” She laughed slightly. “I was sure everyone could tell that I’ve never been with a girl before, or gone to a LGBT-place before.”

“I can almost definitely guarantee you, no one thought that.”

“He was very pretty – that Merlin. How did you manage that?”

“Just by being my very own amazing self.”

Gwen smiled teasingly. “You know, seeing you with someone else makes me _suddenly_ feel like I shouldn’t have broken up with you.”

“It is too late Guinevere,” Arthur said, pressing the back of his hand against his forehead. “You broke my heart, and put me off women for all future. It’s all willies for me from now on.” He bellowed the next words out, because he might be _a bit_ tipsy still, and high on the giddiness from Merlin’s kisses. “I am a penis man!”

Gwen laughed so hard she could barely stand and tried to cover his mouth. “Shut up! Oh my God, shut up! I swear I can’t take you anywhere.”

It was nice to hear Gwen laugh. Arthur marked this evening down as a indisputable success, for both of them. He had already decided he’d call Merlin tomorrow. He would not be able to wait, and he wouldn’t want Merlin to think, even for a moment, that Arthur had changed his mind.

They walked down the street arm in arm, laughing and joking the whole way to Gwen’s flat.

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that author has never been in a club, gay or otherwise (cos author is a 22 year old grandma).


End file.
